Body Welding Conveyor Line Selection Guide Stepper vs Skidder, who is better for your production line?

Let's talk about something real today - how to choose the conveyor line that carries a big beam in the welding workshop? Walking and skidding type every day by manufacturers to compare, but the novice listens to the confusion. Don't worry, let's break up the crumbs to say, to ensure that you look at the end of the heart clear!

​Let's start with a solid question: Is your production line always bouncing between "waiting for materials" and "rushing"?Eighty per cent is not the right choice of conveyor line! If this "artery" is jammed, the robot welded again, it is useless. Let's go directly to the dry goods, look at the two types of conveyor line in the end where the difference -

First, figure out how they work.

• ​Walking Conveyor LineThe lift mechanism is designed to be a neatly organised group of soldiers. It relies on motor-driven rack and pinion to do reciprocating motion, lifting device with a crank rotated 180 ° to achieve the top of the drop. To put it bluntly, the workpiece like jumping lattice, a workstation finished work, the whole line "clunk" a step across to the next position. Domestic such as Dongfeng Tianlong, Hafei Zhongyi these old factories use it, especially suitable for the annual output of 5-10 million units of the rhythm.

• ​Skid Conveyor Line: This thing is more like a flexible trolley. The skid runs on a reciprocating bar or roller bed, and the workpiece is lifted up and down by a pneumatic lifting device.The key highlight is the sled's own positioning module.The precision can be as high as ±0.3mm, and the robot welding is not false at all. Shenlong 206, Dongfeng Honda CRV car production line depends on it to support the scene.

Second, hardcore comparisons! One table to see the essence

Third, the soul torture: in the end to choose who do not step on the pit?

​Question 1: Do you have a single model in your house or do you play with mixed production?​

• If it's just one or two models that do the job honestly, the steppers are good enough and save money. But if it's as popular asMulti-model mixing line(e.g. cars and SUVs), skids can be used between workstations.90°-180° rotary shuntThe production line is transformed into Lego blocks in seconds!

​Question 2: Is the plant a "small house"?​

• Walk-behinds are rigid in terms of plant length, and can't really be stuffed if they're short. What about skids?Conveyance by roller bed relayIt's not afraid to go around corners. It's the right choice for workshops with strange terrain.

​Question 3: Robotic or manual welding?​

• Manual welding requires low precision, and stepper is adequate. But welding with a robot?Positioning accuracy must be ±0.3mm or moreOtherwise, the weld is off and has to be reworked. At this point the skid mounted almost crushes it - after all, they have a positioning block integrated directly into the skid.

IV. Tears of experience from the past

After more than ten years of production line planning, I've seen too many factories fall on their faces.Rushing to the "cheap" choice of stepper, the results of the capacity of an expansion on the blind; also follow the trend on the skid, and finally idle equipment to eat grey.To tell the big truth:

​"It's not what's expensive that's good, it's what matches that smells good!"​

• Tight budget and fewer models? Step up.That's enough money to buy two welders..;
• Playing with flexible production and high-end cars? SledAccuracy and ScalabilityMake your money back in minutes.

One last rant.Don't buy into the "one step at a time" myth!The first to find out their own models within three years of planning, and then to the size of the plant to draw a layout map, more reliable than listening to sales blow three hours. After all, the welding line on, ten or eight years can not change ah!